Amateur golfers benefit from feedback regarding their golf swing to improve their consistency, performance, and satisfaction with the game. The golf swing and contact with the golf ball are difficult to execute, control, and repeat effectively. Electronic aids for providing feedback to the golfer have become increasingly popular for use on golf ranges and in home settings. These devices, however, cannot typically be used during actual play on a golf course as they generally require external support or control apparatus to measure, calculate, and display information useful for the golfer to facilitate guiding the club and controlling the swing. These electronic golf aids require that the golfer remember the correct stance, grip, and ball address and attempt to replicate these functions hours or days later when playing on the golf course.
Other portable devices have been described which provide the golfer with some information about the last contact with the golf ball. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,236 issued to Allen discloses a golf club including a transducer assembly of two piezoelectric films sandwiched across an entire face of a golf club head assembly between a club head and a face plate. A circuit assembly displays an estimated ball distance on a liquid crystal display by integrating an impact force curve over impact time to generate a ball velocity which is then correlated to an estimated distance value. Neither the point of contact on the face plate nor the spin of the ball, if any, can be determined. These parameters are known to effect significantly ball trajectory and distance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,483 issued to Gedney et al. discloses a golf club including five sensors, one each disposed in central, toe, heel, top, and bottom regions of a club head. A circuit detects a peak central sensor output to determine ball velocity and yardage. The peak output is compared to the peak outputs of the other four sensors to determine generally location of the hit on the club head. Ball trajectory is determined by comparing the peak outputs of the toe and heel sensors.
There exists a need for a self-contained instrumented sports apparatus capable of providing substantially instantaneous feedback to a user of multiple parameters of interest which collectively effect ball trajectory and distance. The invention disclosed hereinafter satisfies this need and represents a significant improvement in the art.